Exercise and Hunger: What You Need to Know

If weight loss and burning fat is your goal, one thing that you need to take into account is how the workout you are doing will impact your hunger level.

Hunger is something that can throw many people off their diet altogether and if you aren’t eating right, it’s not really going to matter what you’re doing in the gym, you are not going to see the results you’re after.

So how does exercise impact hunger? Let’s look at a few of the key points that you should know.

High Intensity Cardio And Hunger

The first form of exercise to consider is your high intensity interval training. Most people will find that this form of exercise reduces hunger as the body is working out so intensely that appetite just disappears.

But, take caution. Too much of this exercise will increase your hunger level, so balance must be maintained. Aim for two to three sessions per week, which shouldn’t cause hunger issues for most people.

Weight Lifting And Hunger

The second form of exercise to take into account is weight lifting. For the most part, weight lifting will increase your hunger level slightly, especially for carbohydrates as you must replenish used up muscle glycogen, But if you eat properly, you will eat enough food to cover your needs and will experience a faster metabolic rate because of the exercise session.

As such, you won’t be at risk for fat gain. You’ll eat more, but you’ll burn more as well, so you’ll still come out ahead.

Just be sure that you aren’t doing ultra-high volume weight lifting workouts when seeking fat loss results because that, more than anything, is what will cause issues with hunger.

Moderate Intensity Cardio And Hunger

Finally, the last form of exercise is the moderate intensity cardio training that goes on for hours each week. This can be the worst form of exercise to do if you’re concerned with hunger because most people will eat back just as much as they burned off, if not more.

This makes this cardio workout very ineffective for producing fat loss results if your nutrition isn't on point. So unless you have strong willpower and can still maintain that lower calorie diet regardless of hunger, you are best avoiding it.

Too much exercise will make you want to eat all day and that’s precisely what effect this cardio has on you.

Those are the key things to keep in mind regarding your exercise routine and hunger. If you stick to more intense forms of exercise and still make sure to sustain good balance in your program, taking enough time off for rest and recovery, you shouldn’t have any issue maintaining control over your food intake.

But what if you do get hungry? What do you do then? Find out in our next health, fitness, and personal training blog post full of tips for your success.